Salt shortage, differing forecasts have PennDOT, road crews on edge

Heavy band of snow blanketed the tri-county area Feb. 18, reducing visibilty and causing slippery conditions for motorist pictured on Route 422 near the Sanatoga exit. Photo by John Strickler/The Mercury

As far as PennDOT spokesman Charles Metzger is concerned, if it’s going to snow on Sunday into Monday, it might as well snow a lot.

“With this kind of storm, the more snow the better,” said Metzger.

Weather reports Friday indicated that the area is forecast to get snowfalls in the 6-inch to 12-inch range, “so the way things have been going this year, we think the heaviest snows are coming towards us and we’ll probably get the 12 inches,” said Metzger, who is a spokesman for the PennDOT region that includes Chester and Montgomery counties.

And from the standpoint of plowing roads, that’s just as well, he said.

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The snow is forecast to arrive Sunday night “and snow into Monday and continue all day,” Metzger said.

“When people wake up in the morning and there is an inch of snow on the ground, they can get through that so they get up and go to work. When there’s 6 inches of snow on the ground, it changes their travel plans, they turn on the radio, they find out schools and businesses are closed, and they stay home,” Metzger explained.

Lighter traffic makes it immeasurably easier to keep the roads clear, he said.

“We’ll put down a layer of salt, and hopefully keep it from freezing and bonding to the road, and they we keep plowing because with a storm like this, we will open up a lane and it will fill right back up again,” said Metzger.

But even with light traffic, it has been a heavy lift this year.

“So far this winter, we have used 159,000 tons of salt this year, which shatters our previous record of 142,000 tons from three or four years ago,” said Metzger.

“We have 25,000 tons still in storage and we got another 6,000 tons delivered this week,” he said.

Unfortunately, not all those charged with clearing the region’s roads are so well supplied.

Doug Yerger, the director of the public works department for Pottstown, said the 100 tons of salt the borough has on hand could get the borough through the upcoming storm if it snows.

But if the storm turns out more ice and rain than snow, there could be a problem.

“I’d like to have 180 or 190 tons of salt if there is an ice event,” Yerger said. “If it snows, it’s not a big deal because that is more of a plowing operation.”

If it does start to ice and Yerger can’t get the salt he needs, “(the borough) will use it sparingly. We will treat everything but we won’t blow it out all at once.”

Getting salt proved more difficult this week after the International Salt Co., in Fairless Hills, ran out of salt. International was contracted by the state to provide salt for the winter. Now Yerger is facing a scheduling and logistical problem to get salt to the borough.

“We are trying to locate more,” he said. One company said they could have a shipment of salt in the borough by Tuesday, but that will be too late to help with the oncoming storm.

PennDOT has 415 trucks ready to go “and we’ve had very few equipment problems,” said Metzger.

But don’t let the fact that the state road crews are prepared fool you into thinking they’ve been resting on their laurels, he said.

“We’ve had our crews out fixing potholes, hauling salt. Some of them have been out until 2 a.m.,” said Metzger. “It’s been all hands on deck, all day, every day.”

About the Authors

Caroline Sweeney formerly worked as the police reporter for the Pottstown Mercury. She is no longer on staff. If you wish to contact anyone at The Mercury about her stories, please call our main number at 610-323-3000 and ask for the editorial department. Reach the author at csweeney@pottsmerc.com
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Evan Brandt has worked for The Mercury since November 1997. His beat includes Pottstown, the surrounding townships and the Pottstown and Pottsgrove school districts, as well as other varied general topics like politics, the environment and education. Reach the author at ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
or follow Evan on Twitter: @PottstownNews.